On the morning of June 8, 2020, Vietnam’s National Assembly passed a resolution officially ratifying the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), with 100% of the members in attendance (representing 94.62% of all members) voting in favor. The EVFTA has been described as the most ambitious free trade agreement the EU has ever entered with a developing country, and will eliminate 99% of customs duties in both directions. The trade deal is also expected to improve access to service markets and the protection of intellectual property in Vietnam.

Many companies that operate in Thailand under promotion by the Board of Investment (BOI) are encountering unique challenges during the COVID-19 crisis. Delays to logistics systems and fund remittance services, among other factors, have impeded their ability to comply with the conditions and regulatory duties imposed under their BOI investment project. The office of the BOI has therefore issued BOI Announcement No. Por. 4/2563 on May 12, 2020, which provides relief measures to qualifying BOI-promoted companies, to help mitigate the impact on their operations.

Cambodia’s Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training (MLVT) recently issued Prakas No. 018/20 for the Postponement of Seniority Indemnity Back Payments for Periods before 2019 and Postponement of Seniority Payments in 2020.

In May 2020, the Thai Cabinet approved a royal decree granting a one-year exemption from certain provisions of the Personal Data Protection Act 2019 (PDPA), which had been scheduled to take full effect on May 27, 2020. The new decree has extended the effective date for a number of the law’s provisions to May 31, 2021.Key Elements of the ExtensionUnder the decree, certain critical provisions of the PDPA are not enforceable against exempted businesses (see list below) during the extension period, including the following:

Vietnam’s Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) is drafting a decree to amend Decree No. 72/2013/ND-CP on the management, provision, and use of internet services and online information (Decree 72), one of the key pieces of legislation affecting online business and activities in Vietnam. Among other things, the draft decree is expected to revise the current regime of domain name dispute resolution to bring it in conformity with Vietnam’s obligations under the CPTPP.

To provide some additional relief to entrepreneurs that have been financially affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Thailand has released a new emergency decree that allows financial institutions to offer soft loans to eligible small and medium enterprises (SMEs), waiving the usual mortgage registration fee for loans of this type.

As the COVID-19 situation continues to evolve in Cambodia, the government has issued a declaration, dated May 20, 2020, removing the ban on travelers entering the Kingdom from the following six countries: